90 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



the nature of the surfaces in contact ; and that many of the effects at 

 points of contact, previously attributed to induction, may be due to 

 the peculiar action now for the first time brought under notice. 



It is worthy of record, that two Atlantic cables have been success- 

 fully laid during the present year ; but success in cable-] aying 

 has become so much a matter of course, that its occurrence has 

 attracted little public attention. Two cables, each of more than 500 

 miles in length, have been laid across the Mediterranean ; and the Cape 

 Colony has been placed in telegraphic communication with this 

 country, by a cable of not less than 4,400 miles. 



Constant attention is paid in the General Post Office to the intro- 

 duction of improved methods for the furtherance of the telegraphic 

 communication throughout the country. 



Steady progress has been made in bringing the electric light into 

 practical use. The illumination of the Albert Dock of the London 

 and St. Katherine's Dock Company, the Liverpool Street Station of 

 the Great Eastern Railway, the St. Enoch's Station of the Glasgow 

 and South- Western Railway, and last, but not least, that of the read- 

 ing room of the British Museum, has become an accomplished fact ; 

 while the city authorities have decided to extend the use of this light 

 over various thoroughfares under their control. The subdivision of 

 the light for domestic purposes is a problem which appears to have 

 found a solution in the incandescent carbon lamp of Mr. Swan. 

 Beside this, Mr. J. H. Gordon has devised, for the same purpose, 

 a very ingenious application of rapid sparks from alternating machines, 

 such as that of De Meritens, to produce incandescence in refractory 

 metals. Lamps constructed on this principle completely fulfil the 

 conditions of subdivision, but some difficulties of detail still retard 

 their adoption for general use. There is, however, every reason to 

 hope that the experience already gained, and the intelligence at present 

 brought to bear upon the subject, will before long supply us with 

 more than one form of domestic light. 



The chief question of interest which has occupied the attention of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute has been the adaptation of the " basic " pro- 

 cess to the production of steel from pig metal containing a considerable 

 percentage of phosphorus. Hitherto only pure haematite and spathic 

 ironstones have been used for the production of steel ; but it has now 

 been shown that, by the employment of basic linings and basic slags, 

 the metal is almost completely cleared of its phosphorus, and that 

 steel of good quality may be produced from inferior ore. 



The Conference on Lightning Conductors, composed of delegates 

 from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Society of 

 Telegraph Engineers, the Physical Society, and the Meteorological 

 Society, is steadily pursuing its labours. A large mass of facts has 

 been accumulated ; several leading questions have been decided ; and 



